Tiny clown loach not growing.

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I currently have 4 clown's in a tank measuring 120cm * 50cm * 45cm. 2 loaches have been in for about 8 months and ...

I currently have 4 clown's in a tank measuring 120cm * 50cm * 45cm. 2 loaches have been in for about 8 months and the other 2 have been in for about 4 months. 3 look great and a good size but 1 of the newer ones is still about the same size (length and girth) as it was when I introduced it. It is brightly coloured but doesn't look right at all. It's dorsal fin is now flat against its body.

Your loach sounds stressed, possibly sick. Clamped dorsal fin can mean a lot of things. How big are these loaches? What is the size difference between them? Can you post any photos of the fish and tank both? A visual of how the tank is set up and decorated can often lend useful information when diagnosing a problem such as you are describing.

Is this new fish eating? Have you seen it eat? What types of food are you offering and how often/how much?

Sorry for so many questions but there isn't enough information in your first post to be able to tell you much yet. Also, a list of water params for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH would help greatly, and knowing what type of filtration you are using and how often you are doing water changes, how much water at a time, water temp, etc.

One last question.... did the new fish go into quarantine before going into your main tank?

Your loach sounds stressed, possibly sick. Clamped dorsal fin can mean a lot of things. How big are these loaches? What is the size difference between them? Can you post any photos of the fish and tank both? A visual of how the tank is set up and decorated can often lend useful information when diagnosing a problem such as you are describing.

Is this new fish eating? Have you seen it eat? What types of food are you offering and how often/how much?

Sorry for so many questions but there isn't enough information in your first post to be able to tell you much yet. Also, a list of water params for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH would help greatly, and knowing what type of filtration you are using and how often you are doing water changes, how much water at a time, water temp, etc.

One last question.... did the new fish go into quarantine before going into your main tank?

Thanks for the response.

The fish thats not looking great isn't "new" about 4 months in the tank, the 3 other loaches are about 3 - 4 inches and nice and full in the body (the poorly one is about 1 inch and very slender). the poorly fish does eat, wafer pellets. I also feed bloodworm, flake and cucumber (zuchini in america I think). External filtration, water changes weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) around 25%. water temp currently 26.6 degrees, don't have any water params at the moment, haven't tested for a while, will get a kit tomorrow. I'll post some photo's shortly.

All 4 clowns currently have stage fright (all hiding) so photo's will need to wait till tomorrow, did notice 2 tiny spots on the loach in question so possibly "ich".
I also have a 20 gallon with only 2 flying foxes and 2 algae eaters, could I put those into the main tank with no problems and use the 20 g tank as a hospital tank?? The main one has the clowns, a bristlenose, corys and tetra's ( neons, cardinals and glow-lights). Are the algea eaters and fox's ok to go into the community tank?

Whether its safe to put the flying foxes in with the neons and cardinals will depend on if they are true flying foxes or not... there are 2 species of fish that look very similar and are often "mixed up" when ID'd at lfs's. One is a try flying fox and I forget what the other is... I'll have to look it up... but personality is quite different. If you can get some photos of those we can make a positive ID and I can better advise on that.

You mention a bristlenose and then "2 algae eaters"... what are the other 2 algae eaters? That's a lot of algae eating fish for a single tank. I would suggest making sure there is plenty of food supply for all of these fish and in different areas to avoid aggression during feeding.

Lots of potential possibilities here as to what's wrong, but provided the flying foxes are true flying foxes and not aggressive, you should be able to move them to the main tank and use the smaller tank for quarantine. I would also suggest bumping the temp up to 27 - 28 celcius.

Here are some photo's of my poorly looking clown loach, I cant decide if he has some white spots or older scarring.
He is currently about 1 1/2 inches long but only about 1/3 inch deep. the other one I got at the same time is about 2 inches long but more importantly its about 1 inch deep and nicely rounded.

There are 2 possibilities I can see here at present based on your provided info and what is seen in the photos. 1. This could very likely be intestinal parasites. That is not uncommon in clown loaches. 2. This particular fish could have a digestive disorder.

My suggestion is going to be leave the fish in their current tanks and treat the loach tank with metronidazole. If you need help finding it online let me know, I think Fosters & Smith still carries it. I can track down a link for you if need be. Follow the instructions on the medication label and be careful not to overdose. Remove all carbon from your filter units during treatment. You can also coat the food with this med, just a tiny amount of medication powder in a zip lock baggie with dry food. Shake well until all traces of medication are gone. You can use this medicated food for 3 - 4 days before needing to mix it fresh, so don't mix too much at once and keep baggie tightly sealed in a cool dry place out of direct light. This medication should not harm any of the other fish in the tank, and if they also eat the medicated food that is fine. IF this turns out to be intestinal parasites, which I am thinking it likely is... then the other fish in that tank have already been exposed to it. By treating the entire tank it will help to ensure you don't end up with other sick fish.

As for the spots/marks on the sick loach... that is not white spot (ich), but could be scars from an injury.

I hope this helps. Keep me posted on your progress and please ask if you have further questions. If you notice any new symptoms let me know, as this may alter the course of treatment.